Writing

I started writing in earnest about twenty years ago. By that I mean intentionally writing stories and I took a course on writing for teens.

I started signing up for newsletters on line that encouraged writers and were resources for money and prompts and just generally good to read.




The first one I signed up for was Funds for Writers and Funds for Writers Small Markets. I learned to love C. Hope Clark and enjoyed her stories as the editor for FFW.
 She let us into her life and encouraged all to write more and more and more. Her answer to anyone who said what do I write about was: everything. If your child is sick. Write about it. If your chicken gets out. Write about it.
If you are bored. Write about it. Her mantra has always been to just write.



It took me years to get to where I would write about it. I thought my stuff was silly and incorrect, but there are ways to find out if it is incorrectly written, as in wrong verbs, wrong voice, etc. Silly is just a frame of mind and you may think it silly, I may think it enlightening.




I joined a writing challenge that has helped me immeasurably to get to writing. It is called 500 Hundred Words a Day and was started by another of my e-mail mentors: Jeff Goins. Both Jeff and Hope have the same mantra: write. Just put your bottom in the chair and write.



You can write first, then edit. Try to put your editor out to grass while you write, you can always invite him back in after you have written the end to the story or rant or blog post, whatever you write. If you leave him in place while writing, you may only get three words done, if you put him out to grass, it may go to three hundred. You will need to edit, anyway, so write as much as you can before you do that edit.
 And ALWAYS edit.


 Who wants to send your first stories out into the world without straightening their ties and brushing their hair?